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Saturday, June 30, 2007

How To Find Out:

Before we discuss how to find out, let’s discuss when.

Ask to meet with the hiring manager (if available), or your main HR contact at the end of the interview day (if multiple interviews). Ask at the end of your interview session. Asking after the first interview is premature, and calling back the next day to ask how you did puts you out of the interviewer’s mind (remember, they are probably interviewing dozens of people).

Worse, it raises the question in the interviewers mind at the end of your session if you really want the job - it’s difficult to reverse that perception once it’s set.

Direct Approach:“I’d really like to work for your company - the job sounds perfect for me”. While it’s the most popular approach, this method has problems. It’s centered around what the candidate wants (WIFM), not what the company wants (WIFT - see http://recareered.blogspot.com/2010/03/job-seekers-tell-your-readers-wift.html). If delivered with the wrong tone, in the wrong situation, or to the wrong person, it can be perceived as desperate or pushy. This approach doesn’t ask the interviewer for their feedback of the candidate, which can even appear insulting, and gives the candidate little information. Where this can work – for a high pressure, transactional sales position, this demonstrates an ability to go for the close. At an employer that values relationships, this approach can ruin an otherwise great interview.

Feedback Approach:“So How did I do?” This approach asks the interviewer for feedback, and puts them a on the spot. If you are one of the leading candidates, and the interviewer definitely has you on the callback list, you’ll probably get a strong answer. The problem with this approach is if you are on the bubble for callback, you’ll rarely have an interviewer tell you this (interviewers don’t want confrontation, or to make a discussion uncomfortable – plus they probably have to move on to the next candidate). If you’re on the bubble, you’ll probably get a non-answer telling you that they will review all candidates and make callbacks in the next week or two ... basically “Don’t call us, we’ll call you”.

Next Steps Approach:“What’s our next step?” While a favorite among salespeople, this approach can have drawbacks also. This approach uses an assumptive close technique common in the sales world, of assuming there’s a next step and that the interview process will move forward. If you’re a leading candidate, you’ll likely get the response you want, otherwise you’re likely to hear that the company is still reviewing candidates and …. “Don’t call us, we’ll call you”.

Objections Approach:“Do you have any remaining concerns about how well I could do the job?” This is another approach that might work more effectively for a sales position than for others. For a transactional sales position, it demonstrates closing techniques. For non-sales positions, it may not ask the right question. The interviewer may not have remaining concerns, as they may have already decided that you are not a good fit.

Ranking Approach:“In comparison to other candidates for this position, how do I rank?” This is a better approach, which can give the candidate insight as to chances of getting the job. One of the advantages to this approach, is the type of feedback you are likely to get. You open the interviewer to give some great quality feedback allowing you to compare how strong of a fit the interviewer perceives vs your own perception of how the interview went. If the response that doesn’t translate into you’re one of the top candidates … move on, and don’t wait by the phone.

Fit Approach:“How do you see me fitting in with your company?” This approach can uncover unstated objections in an interview and can give feedback to understand how well you “read” the interview (do your perceptions of fit match the interviewer’s perceptions). This can be effective especially when a key criteria is sensitivity to others. If the response isn’t excited and glowing, if the word “fine” or something of similar blandness is used, or if the interviewer is waiting to review all the candidates, you just aren’t a top choice. Again, move on and don’t wait by the phone.

1 to 10 Approach:“On a 1 to 10 scale (10 being best), how do you think I’d do in the position?” For many situations, I like this approach best, other than for transactional sales positions. The 1 to 10 approach treats your desire to get feedback as an employee review, showing that you truly seek constructive criticism. It’s also a process that HR personnel, recruiters, and hiring managers are very familiar with, increasing your chances of getting an honest response. To get additional feedback, you can ask a secondary question “What could I do to make that a 10?” This approach gives you a very clear idea of where you stand and your best shot at understanding any objections in the interviewer’s mind – maybe even a chance to clear up any misunderstandings. If you get anything but a 9 or a 10, move on.

I find that the Ranking Approach and the 1 to 10 Approach are the most effective - while the Direct and Feedback Approaches are most often used by candidates.

You’ll find that there’s no single answer that’s best for all situations. I recommend experimenting with some of my favorites and see what responses you get. Learn, adjust, and repeat the next time.

So ... On a 1 to 10 scale (10’s best), how helpful did you find this article?

Why Is This Important?

Manage your expectations: Isn’t it better when you know when you’ve done well? Otherwise, how can you tell when your internal gauge is giving you the right feedback? Why get excited about the opportunities that won’t give you the chance to move forward?

Compare opportunities: As you start to see a more opportunities, understanding interviewer feedback gives you an idea of where you have the best chance of success.

How they answer may impact your interest: Are you likely to be more interested in a company that gives you a lukewarm response, or a company that really wants you to come back for the next interview round?

Time management: Gaining clear interviewer feedback gives you better information on how to manage your job search time. You’d be amazed at how much job search time candidates waste chasing after opportunities where they didn’t know they were out of the running.

Gain understanding of hiring process: Gaining feedback gives you a better idea of the hiring process, so you’ll know how to read response ... or lack of response. If you know up front that a company is taking 3 more weeks for interviews before scheduling a second round, you’re less likely to freak out if you haven’t heard back in 7 days.

Opportunity pipeline management: Candidates often keep dead opportunities in their pipeline, giving them false hope. Worse, this can also cause dependence on current opportunities instead of spending time developing new opportunities. Depending on a pipeline of dead opportunities won’t get you closer to your next job.

Demonstrates interest in job: If you don’t ask how your interview went, you give the impression that you don’t care ... because you’re not interested in the job.

Using as a closing technique: Some hiring managers (especially relevant for sales positions) won’t consider a candidate who doesn’t try to close them, or at least ask how they’ve done in the interview.

Friday, June 29, 2007

How To Manage References:

Managing references can be uncomfortable for many candidates. After all, many of your references are people you used to work for, and who are doing you a favor.

How can you manage your references, without feeling like (or appearing like) you’re telling your former boss what to do?

When you ask for the reference: Ask on the phone or in person, not through email. Have a conversation, explain your situation, ask for their advice. Chances are the people you are asking to serve as a reference were at one time mentoring you and taking an active interest in your career. Towards the end of the conversation, after they have agreed to serve as your reference, also ask your reference if they would be so kind as to focus on specific accomplishments or skills you exhibited when you worked for them. This not only serves as a reminder (it may have been a while since you were a direct report), you can also let them know that you have other references that each covering different areas of your experience.

Follow up before each anticipated hiring manager call: When you expect that a specific company will call for a reference, make a call to your reference (an email is acceptable here) - reminding them that they agreed to be a reference, make sure they are available (not out of town), and give them a heads up (so they will know the employer call isn’t a sales call). Take the opportunity here to suggest the reference can help you by fine tuning the message - mention that the company is looking for ways to cut costs, so mentioning some of the process improvement projects that you led and the savings you generated would be a big help.

Don’t try to put words into your ref’s mouth: Suggesting topics and areas of hiring manager interest is OK, scripting words for the reference is not. Telling your reference exactly what you want them to say can have unfortunate results - if it comes across as scripted or unnatural to the employer, recruiter, or HR staff, the reference (and therefore you) can lose credibility. Worse, a reference may resent this or may feel it’s unethical, potentially alienating an ally.

Test your references: Just because you expect a “positive” reference doesn’t tell you how positive it will be. Have a friend call every reference you give - and report back to you.

Make sure you know how they answer the most important question: “If you had a need for someone with X’s skills, would you hire them again?” When your friend calls, if the answer is less than overwhelmingly positive, find another reference.

By the time an employer or recruiter calls your references, you are being seriously considered for a position, often a finalist ... or THE finalist. References that unknowingly change the employer’s perception of you can kill your chances for the job - even if your reference had the best of intentions.

By knowing what your references are likely to say and offering hints of what an employer is seeking can help you guarantee that you’re getting the maximum help from your references.

Why Manage References?

Most candidates leave the content of their references up to chance, because they don’t know what their references are saying ... placing their faith that it will be something “positive”.

Just because a reference is positive, doesn’t mean it provides the help (or the right type of help) that you may need.

”Positive” references come in many flavors: Will your reference give you just an OK ref, a good ref, or a truly great reference? The difference between these types of “positive” references can be communicated by tone, pacing, enthusiasm, and word choice. Do you know how “positive” of a reference you are being given (may not correlate to the positive reviews you got)?

References each tell a part of your story: A “positive” reference may naturally talk about the same aspect of your performance as the rest of your references. On one hand, it’s nice that everyone says the same thing, but it limits the outside corroboration that references provide your personal story. You’re typically better represented if each references focuses on a different skill that you bring to an employer. Often the references you choose truly want to help, but don’t know what to say that will help you.

Reference doesn’t know what’s important to the company: Will your reference choose to talk about what a great team player you were, not realizing you are interviewing for a role where individual contribution is more important than collaboration? Will your well-meaning reference talk about the great job you did as a generalist, when your prospective employer is looking for specific subject matter expertise?

Most candidates leave these types of issues with references up to chance. Since there is so much out of your control in job search, isn’t it in a candidate’s best interest to actively manage the things they can control?

Now that you realize some of the risks of unmanaged references, let’s talk about how to manage your references.

Thursday, June 28, 2007

Job Openings Added This Week:

The retail, business service, health care, telecommunications, hospitality and insurance verticals are the top industries with new job postings this week based on a survey of the nations’ leading job advertisements added during the past seven days.

Retail led new hiring advertisements this week as Blockbuster, Macy's, Sears, Kmart, Pilot and CVS/Caremark were staffing. Business service continued staffing this week as IBM, Deloitte, Booz Allen and Accenture were included in the top job advertisers this week.

Health care is still searching for new employees as Walgreen’s Take Care Health Systems, HCR Manorcare, Amedisys Home Health, Quest Diagnostics, UnitedHealth, Genesis HealthCare, Bayada Nurses and Kindred Healthcare added positions this week. Telecommunications companies were also hiring as AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon were in the top firms adding advertisments for new hires this week.

Hospitality was next as Starbucks, Sonic, Marriott, Boston Market, Pizza Hut and Hilton were looking for employees. Insurance rounded out the list of top companies adding new hiring advertisements, featuring Wellpoint, Aflac and Combined Insurance.

Total Job Openings:

Hospitality led hiring companies as Pizza Hut, Starbucks, Marriott and Hilton continued heavy job advertisements. Business Service firms were next as IBM, Deloitte, Booz Allen and Accenture were actively staffing.

Retail continues hiring growth - Blockbuster, Sears, and Kmart and were all top 10 hiring firms, while Macy's, Lowe’s, Pilot and Radio Shack were also in the top hiring firms. Telecommunications firms remain top hiring companies with AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon still staffing actively.

Top Layoffs week ended 6-25:

Government topped the list as Federal plus 18 state/local governmental units and school districts announced layoffs this week affecting thousands of workers, led by the Los Angeles School system laying off 2,500 employees and Marshall Space Center in Huntsville AL that announced shedding between 700-800 contractors.

Telecommunication was next as T-Mobile announced it would layoff at 392 employees in LaGrange GA and US Cellular announced cuts of 160 Tulsa workers. Technology company NCR disclosed that it was letting go 334 Springdale SC staff.

Energy companies announced layoffs also as Florida Power & Light is releasing 300 employees, while Patriot Coal laid off 170 West Virginia workers due to closure of a dangerous mine. Manufacturing company Trane announced cuts of 205 Fort Smith AR workers.

Inclusion on this listing doesn’t mean the entire industry is down, as some from the same sectors appeared on the “Who’s Hiring” article published 6/21/10.

Job seekers: You might want to look in greener pastures than these companies.

Organizations announcing or rumored layoffs for the week ended 6/25/10:

Let’s call this an altruistic resume, the anti-egocentric resume. Since I’ve already covered writing for these audiences in depth, I’ll summarize, and give references to the detail. As a bonus, I’ll give detail on writing for Hiring Managers, and give still greater detail via link.

Audience #2: Make your resume stand out to HR in just 15 seconds, because that’s all you get on average. Learn how to effectively use Resume Real Estate, club the reviewer over the head with your relevant skills, and grab the HR reviewer by the collar so you go in the interview pile, all in 15 seconds (http://recareered.blogspot.com/2008/03/15-seconds.html).

How can you show that? Research and network to gain insight into that area’s problems and opportunities. Once you can guess at problems and opportunities, show your achievements, and how you’ve accomplished them (hint…pick achievements that demonstrate you solving your target company’s problems). Make it active and numeric…I saved X% by doing Y. I increased sales by X% by doing Y. Using verbs like Managed, Collaborated, Participated in, shows that others achieved, not you. Make your resume altruistic, and give your reader what they want….results.

Audience #4: To appeal to the Hiring Manager’s boss & peers, network into the company through informational interviews to gain an understanding of communication style, culture, and what’s important to peers and managers. Incorporate this in your writing style. For more information on how to appeal to the 4th audience, see http://recareered.blogspot.com/2010/05/how-to-write-your-resume-for-4th_2825.html).

My recruiter friends claim there’s a 5th Audience: Of course, Recruiters ... and I guess they’re right. Recruiters are somewhere between Audience #2 & #3, depending on experience. Great recruiters understand their clients, their culture, and the hard and soft skills they are looking for. Recruiters who can think like the hiring manager are like Audience #3. Less experienced recruiters are more like the HR screeners of Audience #2. For ways to encourage recruiters to keep you top of mind see http://recareered.blogspot.com/2010/03/inside-track-on-recruiters-top-10-tips.html.

What Does An Egocentric Resume Look Like?

Egocentric resumes take different forms. Some give vast amounts of detail about management or projects that the writer was most proud of. Others are understated, stating “just the facts, m’aam.” Still others are full of puffery and overly self promoting, but often about accomplishments that are less important to hiring managers.

There’s one major problem with egocentric resumes … they usually don’t cover what interests the audience.

For example, I recently helped a friend with her resume. This woman is brilliant and engaging, a part time freelance writer published in major magazines, who spent much of her career as a restaurant manager. She egocentrically described how she managed, hired and trained staff. After hours of dragging information out of her with a pair of pliers (ok, I’m exaggerating a little), I discovered many amazing things she had achieved. While the manager of a single location, she developed and implemented a new revenue channel program for her major national restaurant chain that increased their annual corporate revenues by 20%!

Now she wants to apply her skills and recent education in health fields. Regardless of the industry or job she’s applying for, don’t you think increasing national revenues by 20% would interest employers, giving her an edge to overcome real-world health experience? But because she didn’t think it was rocket science, she left it off her resume. This is just one example of individual brilliance, left off client resumes because the accomplishment didn’t fit the candidate’s self perception, regardless of how incredible the achievement was.

Imagine that! You’ve spent many hours finely crafting your resume, getting 10 different and conflicting comments from 10 different people, had it proofed 3 times … and then you wake up and realize it’s written to stroke your own ego - but misses the information that’s relevant to hiring managers.

Congratulations! If you’ve actually realized this, you’re ahead of the game. Most job seekers don’t recognize their own ego and remain frustrated with today’s changed hiring system. Others accept underemployment, largely due to a resume that doesn’t adequately communicate their skills.

Ok, ok, I admit it! I’ve got an Egocentric Resume. Stop twisting the knife and HELP ME!! Now what do I do?

Sunday, June 24, 2007

Gist is a free service, still in Beta. They are continue to develop new features - currently Gist works with Outlook, Gmail, and Lotus Notes. Gist integrates with Facebook, Twitter feeds, Google search and allows downloading of Linkedin contacts. Gist also enables tagging of contacts, so you can use to identify new contacts or new interviews, to trigger a specific follow up.

For full disclosure, I am a new user of Gist’s free service and wanted to share information with reCareered’s readers - because I’m a fan of the service and can see how applicable it can be in job search. I’m still experimenting with new ways I can use the service to save research time, and better communicate.

T.A. shared, “It doesn’t matter if you’re selling yourself or a product, you can use conceptualized content to better survey your network and to better sell yourself - all in real time.”

T.A. also added, “The more understanding you have going into your job search, the more likely everyone will be happy coming out of it - your understanding increases the odds of your personal success as well as the hiring manager’s view that you are a successful hire.“

First 3 Steps To Use Gist Right Off The Bat:

Connect to Outlook/Gmail/Notes: Gist discovers people you know in your network and displays consolidated information about your email contacts.

Survey the landscape: Identify who to contact within industry and target companies. Read the news about your contacts using it as a context for communication.

Use Gist to generate your own contact and online brand: Use Gist to find relevant industry news - then repost to Twitter and Facebook (or your blog) to build your own social brand. Publishing your own industry highlights and amplifies the original author’s content. This also builds a relationship with author (helpful if they are an industry insider or expert) while you simultaneously build your own brand.

Many thanks to T.A. McCann of Gist.com for his time in helping explain how Gist’s mashing of email, social networks, and Google can be applied to your job search.

What Is Gist, Anyway?

T.A. shared that Gist is “focused on relationship focused professionals, people who put a high value on their networks and how to get the most out of them.” Gist helps a candidate understand “ ... who do I know, what are they working on, and should I explore working with them?”

How Can You Use Gist In Your Job Search?

Survey the landscape: Learn about a company or industry and the types of places where you want to work. Use Gist to find online influencers at those companies. See who’s talking about the industries and companies who interest you - also learn what bloggers are talking about it. As you learn who the influencers are, connect through email and social networks. Start conversations with company and industry influencers (social networks, email, or the good old telephone) to learn about problems and issues at your target companies and who you should contact internally to learn more. Don’t waste these opportunities by directly asking who you should send your resume to - that’s usually a direct path to HR. Instead, have conversations, listen, learn about other’s perspective, and build relationships (try some of the tactics in http://recareered.blogspot.com/2010/04/linkedin-company-follow-helps-job.html).

Prepare for meeting: Before Gist, you would have Googled the person you’re preparing to meet. However, Gist does all that for you, providing a comprehensive insight and assembling general news, blog content, Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter and your personal communications all on the same dashboard. Gist lists all email exchanges you’ve had with a specific contact. Now, when you walk into a meeting or interview, you have a summary of news and communication with your target. This can even be structured to appear on your calendar (depending on your choice of calendar).

Follow up: After you’ve met, your contact continues to generate content. Your target’s content can be used to continue to build a relationship. Rather than the touching base email that screams “I want to talk to you, but I can’t think of anything to say”, instead you can continue the conversation with relevant industry information or even comments on your contacts Twitter/Facebook stream or blog posts. This type of communication can give the perception that you’re really paying attention to the industry, their company and them personally - it’s a direct demonstration of your listening skills. Can you see how much more powerful this type of contact is rather than just touching base?

Saturday, June 23, 2007

So How Do You Eat An Elephant?
(and what does it have to do with your job search)

Coach Jenny has an awesome answer - the key of how to eat an elephant. “One bite at a time.”

Coach Mike adds that a critical part of effective marathon and triathlon training is to “take the time to make a realistic training plan.”

Both comments are directly applicable to job search, but to a candidate, eating an elephant isn’t about putting on the miles.

How can a candidate eat an elephant in 4 steps:

Make a written project plan: Very few candidates prepare a written project plan. This is more than something in your head, a follow up tracking, a to-do list, or a list of target companies/contacts. Much like managers prepare a project plan for multi-month large scale projects to track many moving parts, job seekers have a huge benefit when preparing a formal plan for their job search. For details on how to prepare a project plan for your job search, see http://recareered.blogspot.com/2010/02/are-you-planning-to-fail-in-your-job.html

Research, research, research: Most candidates don’t do much research until they are preparing for an interview. That’s great news to those candidates who realize that their best chance of getting an interview is by gaining information that their competitors don’t have - by researching to find non-public information (see http://recareered.blogspot.com/2009/11/guerrilla-job-search-tactics.html).

Be unique: Strive to present yourself in ways that will differentiate from the pack. Instead of using the same techniques as your friends, peers, or co-workers, approach your job search differently. While most candidates have learned to try to be all things to all people, that doesn’t work well in a job market where there are less jobs than candidates. Instead, focus on your specific strengths ... what makes you unique and different. Instead of emphasizing the wide variety of all the things you could do, instead focus on what you do better than anyone else and companies who need those specific skills. (see http://recareered.blogspot.com/2010/01/how-personal-branding-statement-can.html).

Personally, I like to eat my elephant with lots and lots of road salt ...

Many thanks to Coaches Jenny Hadfield and Mike Norman for inspiring this article.

Why Is Job Search Like A Marathon?

Like it or not, a job search is a marathon - it takes a long time. And just like a marathon, the quality of your final results, the speed you are able to get to the finish line, and the pain (or lack of pain) of the effort is determined by how well you prepare.

What do you think happens when a candidate is prepared for a sprint, but ends up with a marathon? Pain. frustration, fear, and an increased risk that they can’t reach the goal - the finish line ... or a good job.

Unfortunately, most candidates are prepared for a sprint - it’s what they are used to. Most first time marathon runners don’t realize the amount of preparation needed to accomplish a marathon. Just like most job seekers don’t recognize the amount of preparation they will need to find their next job.

In prior job markets, there was an over supply of jobs and shortages of qualified candidates, which made sprints out of job searches - but not today. So past experience in job search doesn’t translate well into the realities of today’s job market.

For example, most management level candidates I talk to expect their job search to last an average 3 months - because that’s the longest they can imagine that a job search might last based on prior job markets. Yet, today’s job market has different realities - 6-9 months for managers. 9-12 months for senior managers & executives, even longer for a company President/CEO. CareerBuilder recently published that the job market improved to a 30 week search length for the average candidate.

While some people might be able to run a sprint with no preparation - it’s impossible to run a marathon if you haven’t taken the steps to prepare. It’s not just that you’d take a long time to complete a marathon if your prior preparation consisted of your TV’s remote control or your Wii. Without preparation, it’s impossible to complete a marathon - not even if you walked the entire 26.2 miles.

Friday, June 22, 2007

Reasons # 6 - # 10 You Didn’t Get The Job:

You presented more risk than other candidates: Risk can perceived for many reasons, but have the same end result - hiring managers are less likely to hire candidates that present risk. The hiring manager doesn’t want to look bad, lose the employee in 6 months, affect team morale, generate poor work quality or quantity, or rely on someone undependable. In many companies, one of the biggest criteria for managers to be promoted is the quality of the teams they’ve built. How can you reduce the perception you give of risk? (Many of the same factors that give perception of risk can also translate into a lower salary - I discuss both in http://recareered.blogspot.com/2010/06/what-salary-should-you-expect-for-your.html).

Your references told a different story than you expected: Your references can say nice things about you, yet still unknowingly damage your shot at the job. If you don’t know exactly what your references will say and you haven’t coached them, you leave yourself open for unexpected results. Your references do more than just make flowery statements - they help tell and confirm your story. If you haven’t told your references which part of your experiences you’d like them to highlight, how will they know how to best help you? (http://recareered.blogspot.com/2008/03/linkedin-strategies-recommendations.html).

You lied ... and got caught: The statistics are amazing - how many candidates lie during the job search process. With so much information available online, so many places to corroborate information, it’s just reckless for a candidate to lie on their resume or in the interview process today.

There are many parts of the hiring process that are out of your control. However, there is a surprising amount of the process that is entirely within your control. You can best control what you can control through research, guerrilla job search tactics, and finding inside information to give yourself an edge ...

Also, you’ll notice that ageism isn’t on the list. When a candidate over 40 doesn’t get the job, the first thing they think is ageism. I’m not arguing about the existence of ageism - it exists, it stinks, and it’s a reality. However, ageism isn’t the reason you didn’t get the job.

You can’t change ageism - it’s a bias that’s hard wired into a hiring manager’s thought process. The best you can do is to get the hiring manager to overlook this bias. If you’re thinking it’s ageism, the real reason you didn’t get the job is because you didn’t do enough to convince your hiring manager to ignore ageism.

Reasons # 1 - # 5 You Didn’t Get The Job:

Someone else showed they could solve the company’s problems better than you: Companies hire people to solve problems and make money for them. And the company looks for the person they believe will be able to solve their problems best - that’s not necessarily the person with the best skills or the best experience. Do you know what the company’s, department’s and hiring manager’s most pressing problems are? How does your resume, your interview answers, and your first impression demonstrate how you can best solve these problems (http://recareered.blogspot.com/2010/03/would-you-stop-looking-for-job-already.html)?

The hiring manager liked someone else better: People hire employees they like. For many hiring managers, likability is the single most important criteria. Since likability in an interview is often determined by first impressions within the first few seconds, how can you influence how likable the hiring manager finds you (http://recareered.blogspot.com/2010/06/see-how-easily-you-can-master-non.html)?

You weren’t a fit for the company/department: Fit is the all encompassing word that means you were qualified, but you still didn’t get the job. It’s frustrating for most candidates, because they really don’t know what fit looks like at a particular company. But there is a wealth of information available about fit for a specific company - you just need to know where to look and the right questions to ask. (http://recareered.blogspot.com/2010/04/why-good-career-changers-are.html).

You were viewed as overqualified: This is a huge frustration today, especially among candidates 40+. Overqualified is a catch-phrase that can mean a number of specific things:

Thursday, June 21, 2007

Job Openings Added This Week:

The telecommunications, business service, hospitality, retail, government and health care verticals are the top industries with new job postings this week based on a survey of the nations’ leading job advertisements added during the past seven days.

Telecommunications led new hiring advertisements this week as AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon were in the top firms advertising for new hires this week. Business service continued staffing this week as IBM, Deloitte and Booz Allen were included in the top job advertisers this week.

Hospitality was next as Pizza Hut, Boston Market, Marriott and Hilton were looking for employees. Retail continued its recruiting trend this week with Macy's, Kmart, Sears, Toys “R” Us, TJ Maxx, Bloomingdale's and Bed Bath & Beyond were staffing.

Government was searching for workers as the US Department of Veterans Affairs made the top 10 job advertisers this week. Health care continues to search for new employees as HCR Manorcare, Amedisys Home Health, UnitedHealth, Genesis HealthCare, Bayada Nurses, Quest Diagnostics, Kaiser Permanente, Concentra, and Kindred Healthcare added positions this week.

Total Job Openings:

Hospitality led hiring companies as Pizza Hut, Marriott, Cracker Barrel, Boston Market and Hilton continued heavy job advertisements. Business Service firms were next as IBM and Deloitte were both in the top 10 companies advertising for employees while Accenture was also actively staffing.

Retail continues staffing growth - Advance Auto Parts, Sears, and Kmart were all top 10 hiring firms, while Blockbuster, Macy's and JCPenney were also in the top hiring firms. Telecommunications firms remain top hiring companies with AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon still staffing actively.

Top Layoffs week ended 6-18:

Government topped the list as Federal plus 20 state/local governmental units and school districts announced layoffs this week affecting thousands of workers, led by the Marshall Space Center in Huntsville AL who announced shedding between 535 and 1,050 contractors, and Wayne County MI announced cuts of 700 employees. Colleges also announced layoffs as the University of Minnesota is cutting 370 workers.

Health Care was next as Allegheny General Hospital announced it would layoff at least 344 employees. Business services provider Teleperformance USA disclosed that it was shedding 370 Abilene TX workers.

Hospitality companies announced layoffs also as Wynn Las Vegas/Encore released 261 employees in a cost-cutting move.

Inclusion on this listing doesn’t mean the entire industry is down, as some from the same sectors appeared on the “Who’s Hiring” article published 6/14/10.

Job seekers: You might want to look in greener pastures than these companies.

Organizations announcing or rumored layoffs for the week ended 6/18/10:

Monday, June 18, 2007

What can you do in the first 15 seconds to slay the interview?

Mike Murray has additional ideas. Mike suggested “Most hiring managers want to hire someone like themselves. The first thing you can do is to look like you already work at your target company. Dress like them. Do some research and ask other employees about the company. Look at the brochures, press releases and website. How do people dress? What are the employees like?”

Mike even recommended reconnaissance - by going to the lunch place closest to your target company, and watch people who come in. Strike up a conversation if you can, or just watch, paying attention to how people talk and what they are wearing. The closest bar for happy hour may work also, or just stopping into the office at the reception area – just notice the first few employees that are in the lobby.

So after you’ve done your reconnaissance or pre-networking (think Linkedin and/or Facebook) to ask about the culture and office attire, you’re prepared to look like you’re already an employee. This goes a long way to establishing rapport, by blending in and causing the hiring manager to think “Wow, this person already looks like they work here”.

What can you do in the first 30 seconds to own the interview?

Mike then suggests “After you’ve established rapport, build upon it with mirroring. Keep your energy level comparable to the interviewer. Adopt similar posture, gestures, and tone. Even breathe at the same pace, by watching how their shoulders rise and fall, and copying their breathing pattern.”

Finally, eye contact is critical. Keeping eye contact when you first approach an interviewer and shake hands gives non-verbal cues of confidence and trustworthiness. Keeping eye contact when you are being asked questions gives non-verbal cues of listening skills. And finally, keeping eye contact while answering reinforces the answer, builds rapport, and reinforces trust.

But also evaluate the company’s von-verbal communications to see if you want to work for the company or hiring manager. How the company communicates to you non-verbally will help you make a good choice of companies and opportunities. You’ll want to:

What The Experts Say:

So I talked to a few experts in workplace Non-Verbal Communications, who gave some fascinating comments about how to make an instant connection upon walking into a room, and passing the 2 second interview test with flying colors.

Mike Murray, Author of Forget the Parachute, Let Me Fly the Plane stated that “Most hiring managers don’t understand how they hire, because we have no concept of our own bias. Humans have a fundamental attribution error…we often don’t understand what motivates us to an action.”

What Mike is describing, the rest of us call “gut feel”, and it’s all established based on Non-Verbal Communications. While we don’t always understand what motivates our “gut feel”, we usually follow it.

Based on research, you only get between 2-30 seconds to form those “gut feel” impressions with the interviewer. So how can a job seeker establish rapport with a hiring manager in the first 2-30 seconds? It’s all about mastering Non-Verbal Communications, which establishes trust, likability, & rapport almost instantaneously.

So what can you do in the first 2 seconds to instantly Non-Verbally Communicate that you’re the best person for the job?

Karen Rothstein, Non-Verbal communications coach with Transformation by Design, suggested “The biggest thing you can do within the first few seconds is to adopt a Physiology of Confidence”. Karen suggests the best way to exude confidence is through preparation. Karen advised “ Visualize a time when you were at the top of your game, and remember how that felt. Practice that feeling, and then visualize that time just before you go into the front door of your target company.” Feel confident, and you’ll be confident.

You should be able to see that Linkedin profiles and resumes are each effective for different purposes. Knowing when to use each one, and the different power that each can provide your search is one key to getting what you want in your job search.

How do you decide whether to send your Linkedin profile or your resume?